Mandela on TV, first time since illness

nelson-mandela / 30 May 2012, 4:33pm

Reuters

A picture taken on June 17, 2010 shows former South African President Nelson Mandela in Sandton. Nelson Mandela, 93, was admitted to hospital on February 25, 2012 after doctors advised specialist medical attention for a long-standing abdominal complaint. "President Jacob Zuma wishes to advise that former president Nelson Mandela was admitted to hospital today, the 25th February 2012," a statement from the presidency said.
AFP PHOTO / POOL - Siphiwe Sibeko

Johannesburg - Former South African President Nelson Mandela, making his first appearance on television since a hospital stay in February, was shown on Wednesday receiving a flame marking the centenary of his ruling ANC party.

The 93-year-old, anti-apartheid hero, sitting upright in a chair and surrounded by family at his rural home in the town of Qunu, spoke briefly during the ceremony, saying “I used to be the leader of the ANC” and that he was “happy” to see the flame.

Mandela, who was admitted to hospital in February for a keyhole abdominal examination, is now frail and has made few public appearances over the past few years. The last time he was on television was in October last year when he was filmed at his Johannesburg home filling out a census form.

The man awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end white-minority apartheid rule moved back this week to Qunu in the southeast of the country, where he was born and raised.

Although he stepped down at the end of his first term in office in 1999, South Africa's first black president still occupies a central position in the psyche of a country ruled by the 10 percent white minority until all-race elections in 1994.

He spent time in hospital a little over a year ago for treatment of a respiratory ailment. - Reuters